Level 10 - Bring Me The Head Of Ghola-Fan
Quest Giver: Mul-Tong in the Ogre Encampment on the Restless isles
Level: 10 Party
Patron: The Free Agents (6/12/18)
Length: very long
Entry Point: Ghola Fan’s Compound on the Restless Isles
Prereqs: Must have completed Hiding in Plain Sight to get onto the Restless Isles, or get Greater Teleported to the Restless Isles.
Recommended Party: Standard. Evasion types very handy in here
Base Experience: 3,900
Quest Info:
--Creatures: ogres, worgs, ogre magi, iron golems, wildmen, bugbears
--Traps: blades, darts, spikes

Walkthrough:

First off, this is one of the two quests necessary to get the sigil required for the Twilight Forge and the Warforged Titan Raid.
 
Map of the Restless Isles

A note for the types with power bars: the first shrine is a long ways away, so be conservative.

So, heading in… start out by clearing the hallways as you go, until you reach the closed doors with to open slots for keystones. There is a stone at the end of either flanking hallway, so it’s just a matter of picking one and heading out.

We shall start this guide with the door to the east. Clear the hallway as you go until you reach a wooden floored room with a locked gate to the left. This room I have affectionately referred to as ‘The Gauntlet’ since my early days here. The halls are filled with traps that cannot be disarmed, so you must choose to do one of two things here. One, send only the evasion types ahead, to mitigate damage. Or two, which is to have the evasion types lead, but everyone follow, using the evasion types to trigger the traps so you can see where they are. It may not be a bad idea to leave behind someone who can raise dead if you go for option number two… just incase.

The first hall of ‘the gauntlet’ is whirling blades that alternate in a kitty corner style. They are avoidable if you can see where they will pop up. The second hall is a rune floored walkway. Jump on the right stones and you’re okay, the wrong one cause blades to slash through the hall. The key is on the wall behind you, match the runes right to left, so think backwards unless your first language is Arabic. The next hallway has a box at the end, run and jump onto it from as far away as you can, to avoid getting spiked, then jump across to the next. Fourth is a flaming dart trap, a high AC will get you through, or haste and run and jump to mitigate. Good time for Uncanny Dodge AC boost. Last is alternating blade traps, these things are mean and it’s a bit more difficult to see where the safe points are.

Now that you are through, you reach a closed door. Inside are a half dozen ogres, led by Taco the Killer. Inside is the keystone, and a chest containing the key to the gate that connects this side of the room to the beginning of the room. Unfortunately sneakin in isn’t going to be an option. You can try pulling them through the traps, or tackin them on, depending on what strategy you are feeling like today.

Now back to the other wing, which ends in a Ogre training room. Pulling the lever to o get to the chest containing the second keystone activate the ogres sparring partners… a trio of Iron Golems. Take them out, grab the keystone and continue through the main hallway.

There is a long, spiral ramp way heading down into the island, and a mysterious lever at the top. Two options here: first, pull that lever. It activates a blade trap that slices up everything on the ramp all the way down, including all those ogres. Then have the rogue drop to the very bottom and disarm the trap, since there is no other way to turn it off. The second way is not to turn on the trap, and just hack n slash your way down.

The lower hall opens up into a large room great for the enemy archers to shoot down on you from the upper level. Pull the things on your level out of enemy fire, and deal with them down the safe hall. Then either charge through, or range the enemy archers. Once through you find yourselves in a bad guy martial art training class. Interrupt them and kick their butts. Oh, and if you are in first you may notice the little meeting going on in the box seats across the way. Hello Mr. Mind Flayer.

Okay, the halls to the left are a barrack, and skippable. To the right take the right hallway, and take the first right (straight just dead ends). This will circle up and around to the upper level where those archers were pelting you before. Clear them out and move across the bridges. Then move down to the end of the hallway and take out the Warden and his buddies that are hanging out in the Sauna. You are such a jerk. Grab their personal belongings and the warden’s key, and maybe rest in the Sauna while you’re at it. What a great place for a shrine.

Now head back and make a U turn at the martial arts room. This will lead you up to another crossroads. Take a left and head into those box seats. Unfortunately the Mind Flayer has taken off, but they left you some gifts in the treasure chest. Turn back and head the other direction. This will take you to another closed door with room for two more keystones.

Let’s go left first this time. This is the ogre’s prison cell, but you have the Warden’s key and can get in. You have a couple of options here. First is to grab a sneaky’ish person, they run through the halls of prison cells and get to the ramp up to the Ogre prison guards. On the left wall just before the ramp up is a switch… hmmm switch in a prison cell. Good idea! Hit it and snap into sneaky mode. Watch as the ogre guards come racing down to shut down the prison break you just started by hitting the cell blocks master switch. Now sneak up past the remaining two guards, open the chest, snag the keystone and book it. Run past the ensuing riot and get back to your group, they can help you clean up anything that follows. Option number two isn’t as sneaky, but its more hack n slash. Go in, don’t free the monkeys, kill the guards, grab the keystone. Done and done. Now to the other side.

A crossroad immediately greets you, go right to the shrine room and clear it. Now head the other way to the ‘super-happy-fun-room’. Open the door to find a group of ogres all pumping the bellows on fire jets and acid spouts, pounding the hammer on sonic gongs and chanting the insane Xoriat song of the rhoombas. And while they are doing that they still have time to fire bows and cast acid fog and other goodies on your head. Deal with it, remember cloudkill is your friend. And the chest in the middle when the main priest dies, that’s the place where that cool UMD/true sight clicky, Staff of the Seer, drops.

Grab the other crest from the back chest and go open the door to the final hallway. First is a room of monkeys, second is ogres and third is Ghola-Fan and his elite personal bugbear assassin squad. Key the A-Team music and get to work. (Beware Ghola’s spell repertoire of chain lightning, cone of cold and disintegrate.)

After the final battle swing over to the side door which will open with the Warden’s key, inspect the pile of skulls to get a nifty skull which will let you bypass a fight on the way to the Twilight Forge (okay, no one really runs there anymore, thankyou greater teleport.)

Then move into the treasure room. Yay for four treasure chests! What the…. This stuff is ****! Or as the DM says, “This loot seems woefully mundane for someone of Ghola-Fan’s leet uberness.” Hint, hint. Search around and find the real treasure stash, and if you are lucky, you might find a Royal Guard Mask, that’s a hat with 1 charge of teleport per rest.

Return to Mul-Tong for your quest reward and half of the sigil.
End Reward: standard loot list